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Shanghai: If China’s financial metropolis is to become a genuine international maritime centre it must address the current taxation system and give owners in Shanghai special discounts, delegates attending the opening ceremony of the Seatrade-coorganised China Maritime Congress were told. Xu Jianqun, a member of the Shanghai Municipal Construction & Transportation Committee, noted how other shipping clusters around the world had started out by offering tax discounts and this was pivotal for Shanghai too if it wants to achieve the recently stated central government goal of becoming a fully fledged international maritime centre by 2020. This observation was backed up Richard Greiner, a partner at law firm Moore Stephens, who quoted a British enquiry into the importance of tonnage tax which read: “The modern armoury in the battle for success invariably includes a virtually tax-exempt fiscal regime.” Distributed at the event is Seatrade’s Shanghai special magazine, in which we interview COSCO president Wei Jiafu (pictured) who concurred with the mood of the opening session, saying Shanghai needs “to import specialized people from overseas and revise the whole tax system.” The conference continues through till Friday afternoon. [24/06/09]